


Afternoon Light

by experimentorium



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Gen, Mild Language, they say fuck a few times yea they bad girls, vent in the form of a half assed hogwarts au (dabs)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 05:56:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21315295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/experimentorium/pseuds/experimentorium
Summary: Macey skips class.
Relationships: Agent 4 & Agent 8 (Splatoon)
Kudos: 3





	Afternoon Light

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes u just gotta cry it out in the school bathroom bro

Afternoon light filtered into the bathroom through the old stained-glass window, falling over the circle of ceramic sinks in a grand golden beam, glittering over patches of water spilled and splashed over tiled floors. It fell just short of Macey, knees drawn to her chest and leaning sideways against the tall-standing wall that separated the rows of toilet stalls from the sinks and the grand window. 

She sniffed, blinking back against another onslaught of tears, ache seizing in her chest. She’d already spent all of class cooped up far away from where anybody would find her. She had to suck it up if she wanted to at least make her way back to the Hufflepuff common room, let alone the dormitories. She bit her lip, choking over hitched breath and trying to quiet herself as she heard footsteps and loud voices and laughing start to gather and sway outside the heavy bathroom door. Class must have just ended by then, which meant she’d wasted at least an hour and a half dirtying her uniform all curled up and crying herself stupid on the dirty tile floors of the bathroom. She inhaled deeply once she had quashed the shuddering sob rising up her chest, breathing and working to calm herself, trying to relax over the tight, heaving pain. 

She felt a nudge at her hand, a cold tickle of whiskers, and Macey opened her eyes, lifting her hand to scratch the head of the silver-spun cat by her side. Her patronus, simpler to cast when no pressure from any outlying force was closing in on her; a purring, reassuring comfort on the worst days. The cat rubbed her little wet nose intently against Macey’s hand, pressing for head scratches. Macey sniffed up the mess of snot clogged up in her nose. 

The cat paused against Macey’s ministrations, catching sight of something else and brushing past her, pure white pupils wide and intent on something Macey couldn’t see. A moment later, a silver hummingbird flit quickly around the room, Macey’s cat chasing around after it. 

“You missed charms,” Lenn said, bathroom door closing soundly behind her, fitting into its ancient frame with a whisper. 

Macey didn’t turn to look at her, nor made any move to respond. She watched the hummingbird dip like a little dive bomber and peck at her cat’s head. The cat reared back and the hummingbird darting around her head tauntingly, laughing at her. 

The heels of Lenn’s scuffed black school shoes clicked against the tile floors as she lowered herself to the ground across from Macey. She never bothered wearing her robes like Macey did, green and gray tie barely tied around the collar of her button-down. There were spattered stains contrasting the neutral tone of her sweater vest, from breakfast; if she ate any messier she might have been a caveman. 

“You missed it, Cuttlefish nearly blew some kid’s stupid rat into flames,” Lenn smirked. “Fucker started squeaking like mad and ‘kid was really about to sing it a lullaby to calm it down…” 

Macey exhaled, not even feigning interest. Lenn’s smirk melted. She pressed her cheek to the tile wall, mirroring Macey. She looked at her, gaze merely calm, empty, reading. Macey looked right back into her. 

“You can’t miss Transfig now, too,” Lenn said, voice crackling over a whisper. She had never really been an expert on the whole “comforting friend” thing. 

“I don’t care,” Macey croaked. “And stop… calling it _ Transfig _. It’s not cool.” 

“Nah,” Lenn narrowed her eyes. “It’s totally stupid. I’m still calling it that, though.” 

Macey’s cat returned to her side, nuzzling against her leg and purring audibly. The hummingbird landed on Lenn’s shoulder, a tiny opal of a patronus. Macey ran her fingers over the cat’s soft head. She closed her eyes, breathing finally somewhat regulated, the hurt in her chest quieted to a low, murmuring worry.

“This about her?” Lenn asked. Macey snorted bitterly, all the answer she was willing to give. “You know you need to—“

“Let her go?” Macey opened her eyes again. “Yeah, I got it.” 

Lenn pursed her lips, backtracking. “I didn’t mean to, I meant—“

“I know,” Macey pulled a hand down the side of her face. “I know.” She sniffed. “But usually it’s not so bad. Sometimes I can rationalize, I know it’s not worth it but I imagine it anyway, I know it’s…” she exhaled bitterly, sharply, “..._ stupid _ . But… it still gets my hopes up— _ god _ , I feel like such a _ lump _.” 

“You are a lump,” Lenn responded promptly, to which Macey kicked out her leg, landing a well-deserved hit squarely to Lenn’s shin. “_ Ow _, fuck,” she laughed, kicking Macey back. 

“Ow,” she hissed. “You kicked harder!” 

“You kicked first,” Lenn smirked, infuriating as always. 

Macey rubbed the tender spot on her leg, her cat glaring at the hummingbird still on Lenn’s shoulder. She managed a small smile. 

“You suck.” 

Lenn laughed. “_ You _ suck, doofus.” 

Silence fell, the footsteps outside quieting as students filed to their classes, or out to the courtyard to bask in some warm afternoon sun. Macey closed her eyes again. 

“It hurts like shit sometimes,” Macey bit her lip before it could start trembling again. 

Lenn took a moment to form a response. “It’ll, only hurt until it doesn’t anymore, I guess.” 

Macey opened her eyes, watched the hummingbird flit from Lenn’s shoulder to her finger, perching upon it and looking curiously back at its caster. 

“Bye, for now,” Lenn whispered, and the tiny bird bowed its head, dissolving into wisps of silver. 

Macey ran her thumb over the fur between her cat’s eyes before they closed and the patronus followed the hummingbird’s example. She looked back to Lenn, and it was just the two of them, on the bathroom floor. 

The light had shifted, it caught Lenn’s butterscotch hair like a halo. It only barely touched Macey’s shoes, stretched golden light through stained glass.

**Author's Note:**

> I knew posting anything that wasn’t pearlina or like.. a ship at all would get about -12 hits lmao but I still... wanna share it.. I don’t know..
> 
> it’s not much, but if anybody needs some comforting- if you feel like you’re alone, me just talking and trying to comfort is much more rambly than me writing it out. I’m here, if you think you’ve got nobody else... I’m probably thinking of you 
> 
> (not in a creepy way tho pff-)
> 
> EDIT THERE WAS A TYPO IN THE WORST SPOT but itsk fixked now (ouf


End file.
